There is a huge problem with pop-up style irrigation sprinklers sticking in the down or up position. Is there a sprinkler head manufacturer out there that has a head that is specifically designed and marketed to be immune to this problem? One that has rollers or bearings along the neck? I cannot find anything online.
If it is stuck in the up position, spray some lubricant like silicone on it. Pull it up and down a few times and it should slide back down once the valve has turned off the water pressure.
If it is stuck in the down position, you probably need to replace the head. You could try to spray some silicone on it, but if it is really stuck, there’s not much you can do.
It seems there are certain products in the world that nobody has ever figured out how to get to work right. These pop-up sprinklers seem to be one of them.
Another is pop-up Kleenex (and all other brands). The earliest I recall noticing this product was 40-some years ago. To this day, they have never figured out how to get them to pop up reliably, once the box gets to be about half empty, despite various strategies that they have tried. We put men on the moon back in 1969 but we still can’t solve world hunger or make pop-up Kleenex or sprinklers that work well.
I was in the sprinkler business for quite a few years. Had my own company for a while. I have done a lot of troubleshooting and repair work and…
personally never found this to be much of a problem.
The old brass ones that relied on gravity to go back down where a problem to be sure. The new plastic ones, IMHO, not so much. I would guess if you have a lot of iron or calcium in your water, that this would be more of a problem.
What type/brand of sprinkler heads do you have? I have found that Toro, and RainBird both make great products. That’s all I ever used. You may want to go that route.
I’d say the OP is either suffering from either real hard water or from dirt in the lines.
For awhile I had sprinklers fed by a pump pulling water out of a lake. Lots of silt got in the lines, at least compared to using city tap water. Which fine grit got between the pop-up tube and the fixed collar & made the motion scratchy and unreliable.
A better silt filter and flushing the lines solved that problem.
As mentioned a filter will probably help. Sprinklers are very sensitive to fine grit.
Hunter stainless steel sprinklers are top of the line and rarely have such problems but no one really wants to pay 30 bucks a head.
I LOVE finding popped out sprinkler heads when I’m walking the dogs in our neighbourhood. A tiny tap with my foot sends them rocketing back down with a satisfying “pssh”! We have terribly hard water, and I have to say I don’t find them nearly as often as I’d like.
I’ve used both of these, and have never had a problem. I also try to keep weeds and dirt away from the sprinkler heads.
My only issue has been animals nibbling off the fixed sprinkler heads - but the new heads with brass fittings seem to have fixed that problem.
Good info, and I think making sure the head does not flood the area with drippings, carrying dirt into the neck, is an effective solution. But they are so cheap that they usually do drip. Oh well.